


From Cacti, To Cactus

by alienvibes, gayspacepilots



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Space Husbands, Starfleet Academy, mild swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 14:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9903545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alienvibes/pseuds/alienvibes, https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayspacepilots/pseuds/gayspacepilots
Summary: Bones and Ben become friends when they meet meet at the University of Mississippi for med school. They lose touch when they move back to their respective states; Ben to New Jersey, Bones to Georgia. They get reacquainted when they find out they’re roommates at the Academy. Bones meets Hikaru in one of his classes and later on, invites him out with their group (Bones, Jim and Ben). Upon seeing how well they get along, Bones and Jim decide to set them up on a date.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is our "little" story for the Benkaru Big Bang. We got paired up with [sleepymccoy](http://sleepymccoy.tumblr.com/) and she made a beautiful art piece for us in chapter 6.

Hikaru couldn’t be more excited. He woke up with a huge smile on his face and practically sprinted to his class. His first ever class at Starfleet. He glanced at his PADD more times than he could count, double and triple checking that he was in the right building, the right room and the right class. Upon one final check, he sat down in the middle of the large lecture hall and pulled out his various PADDs for Interspecies Ethics. Hikaru wasn’t sitting for 2 minutes before some grumpy cadet stumbled behind him and plunked down in the seat next to him.

“Rough day?” Hikaru joked.

“Don’t get me started,” The man grumbled.

Hikaru winced slightly at the man’s tone, but shrugged it off. “ _ I’m not going to let it bother me _ ,” He hummed to himself. He watched as the man placed a old-style PADD on his desk and slumped against the back of his chair. 

  
And after that, one by one, people slowly filed into the classroom. A group of Bajorans sat in the first rows. Followed by several Ferengi and Cardassians that spread out through the entire room. Some rowdy, young humans sat in the back half of the classroom. At the same time that a large swarm of Vulcans came in, a large, burly, human male sat on the other side of Hikaru.

“Whoa...” Hikaru gulped, “He’s huge.” 

Upon inspection, Hikaru realized that the brawny man looked significantly older than the fresh-faced first years. He was built like a building, tall, large and burly. He made Hikaru shiver slightly, his only thought being,  _ “Well… I sure don’t want to get in a fight with that guy.” _

  
But as the final set of people entered, their professor walked in and started rapidly talking about the importance of ethics in Starfleet. Hikaru found he didn’t need to take very many notes, as the class was straightforward and mostly common sense. He knew it must get more complicated the further he got in the class, but he couldn’t think about that right now.

“...alright, so partner up!” Their instructor called before returning to his desk.

_ “Wait, what?” _ Hikaru thought, stunned,  _ “Shit, what did I miss...” _

“Hey! Deer in the headlights,” The grumpy guy from before called. Hikaru, snapping out of his thoughts, turned his head towards the man. “Yeah you! You wanna be my partner?”

“Uh, sure,” Hikaru mumbled, “What are we doing exactly?”

“Roleplaying a typical diplomatic encounter with Vulcans,” The man explained.

Hikaru let out a sigh of relief. “ _ Oh, okay, well that’s easy. Just be polite and don’t touch them. Simple. _ ” He thought to himself. 

“Would you rather be the human or the Vulcan?”

“Well you seem too grumpy to be a Vulcan, so I guess I’ll be the Vulcan.” Hikaru answered, turning in his chair to face the man.

“You’re not so bad, then,” The man laughed, extending a hand for Hikaru to shake. “The name’s Leonard, by the way.”

Hikaru smiled. “Hikaru,” He supplied, taking the man’s hand. “And you just failed.”

“What?” Leonard asked, confused.

“You shook my hand, you failed.” Hikaru chuckled.

“I’m having second thoughts about you, Hikaru,” Leonard warned. 

  
When their professor called an end to the practice, he resumed where he left off. Continuing on to Andorian customs, followed by Orion, Trill, Birizii and Altani until the class ended.

“Alright, everyone read the first 70 pages of your Species of the Federation PADD before the end of the week.” A series of loud groans echoed throughout the room as the instructor left and the next came in. Since Interspecies Ethics and Protocols were back to back classes, only the instructors changed, while the cadets had to stay for another hour.   
  


Hikaru spent the first half of class lazily writing notes and the second drawing on the paper notebook he brought in his bag. Yes, Hikaru thought the class was important, but the first few classes were very long and boring. At least at the end of class, Leonard joined him in his doodling. “ _ Well, there you go _ ,” He thought to himself, “ _ One friend. _ ”

__ “If only I could find myself a boyfriend...”  
  


* * *

_  
“Dammit, I’m a doctor not a fucking swordsman.” _

  
Bones didn’t want to take Human Hand-to-Hand Combat, he hated the very idea of it. He’s a doctor, he’s supposed to heal people, not hurt them. He muttered under his breath all the way to the Athletics Building. “God damn Starfleet and it’s stupid-ass, bullshit.”  
  


As he walked into the room, he searched the crowd for a friendly face. Either Jim, or by some miracle, Ben. But he already knew that he only shared Xenobiology with Ben and The History of Starfleet with Jim. At this point, he’d settle for anyone remotely familiar. He just wanted this class to be over and to leave before he hurt someone. He had just changed and was putting his stuff in the locker room when someone opened the locker next to his. 

“Oh hey, it’s you.” The person next to him spoke. 

Bones looked up to find Hikaru standing next to him, already dressed in his hand to hand gear. He had almost professionally done hands wraps on, as well as the standard Starfleet shorts and tshirt that are issued at the beginning of the year. 

“Hey Hikaru,” Bones started, “It’s good to see a familiar face. I’m glad I know at least one person in this class.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel,” He spoke, putting his extra stuff into his locker, “I don’t have any close friends here. None of my friends went into Starfleet and we kinda drifted apart after graduation.”

The two of them closed their lockers and headed to the main gym area, taking up a spot on the side of the room. They listened to their instructor, Casper Wilde, drag on about the basic instructions and rules within the training area, and the dos and don’ts of hand to hand combat before going into basic defensive stances. The class followed along as the instructor went through the moves, one by one.   
  


When they got to the basic offensive positions, Wilde told them to pair up. Bones and Hikaru unanimously looked at each other and it was settled, they would be partners. 

“I should let you know, I’ve never done this before.” Hikaru laughed, placing his feet firmly on the mat and bringing his arms into the starting position. 

“And I should let you know,” Bones begun, mirroring Hikaru’s stance, “I’m very opposed to this.”

“Why’s that?” Hikaru asked, lowering his hands.

“I’m a doctor. I heal people. I don’t hurt them.”

Hikaru shrugged, “Well, I guess that makes sense, but you’ve got to fight to pass the class.”

“Maybe, but I don’t have to like it.” Hikaru resumed his position, waiting for Wilde to give the signal to start. Once he called ‘fight’, Hikaru and Bones circled around each other, neither of them making a move. They continued like this, neither one wanting to hurt the other, until Wilde started to walk over.

“We better do something,” Bones mumbled, “Wilde’s on their way over.”

“You said it, not me,” Hikaru sighed before throwing a punch at Bones, that Bones just barely missed, jumping out of the way. He threw a weak punch back that Hikaru easily avoided. This continued until Hikaru looked over and saw Wilde glaring at them. Wincing slightly, Hikaru threw a more powerful punch in Bones’s direction. He felt, more than saw, the impact, as his fist connected with Bones’s cheek. He turned back towards Bones, an apologetic look on his face as they got back into their stances. They threw several more punches at each other, aware that Wilde was still watching them. They managed to block some of them, but the rest hit their mark, leaving both with various sore spots. After a while, the instructor moved on to watch some of the other pairs fighting. They continued with their sparring until Hikaru accidentally throws a strong punch, hitting through the block Bones makes. It hits him in the jaw and splits his lip, sending Bones to the ground. 

“ _ Oh shit, _ ” Hikaru thought before moving to help him up. “Are you okay?” When he reaches down to help him, Bones turns towards him as he pushes himself up into a crouch. A crack is heard as Bones’ elbow accidentally collides with Hikaru’s face. He spins around to see Hikaru holding his nose, blood dripping down his face.  

“We need to get you to the clinic. Now.” Bones grabbed Hikaru’s arm, tugging him towards the door. He stops briefly as he passes the instructor, telling them where they were going. They make their way out of the room, Bones grumbling about how this was the reason he didn’t want to take this class in the first place and headed towards the clinic. 

“Shit, I have a class right after this.” Hikaru said, his voice slightly muffled from him holding his nose. “I don’t have enough time to wait at the clinic.” 

Bones looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “I think you can miss one class because of this.”

“It’s the first class. I don’t think I would give off a very good first impression if I missed the first day of Flight Control.”

Bones sighed.  “Fine,” He grumbled, grabbing Hikaru by the elbow and leading him the the opposite direction of the clinic.

“Wait, where are we going?” Hikaru spat out, confused. But he let himself be dragged away by Bones anyway.

“My dorm room. I’ve got a dermal regenerator in there.” He explained, “Plus it’s closer than the clinic.”  
  


They arrived at the dorms sooner than Hikaru expected. He was at a loss of words upon seeing the man’s dorm room. “Wow, so you’re a big fan of plants then, huh?” He let out, carefully lifting up one of the many potted plants surrounding the left half of the room. 

“Actually, those are my roommate’s,” Bones explained, gesturing at the vast collection of flora on the other side of the room.  

“Really,” Hikaru quirked examining the Ferengi Asparagus Fern in his hands. “These are incredibly difficult to get. How did your roommate find these?” 

“He’s a huge nerd,” Bones chuckled, “Super sweet. He’s always had a fascination with xenobotany. Even in med school he was always spending his free time in the greenhouse outside of campus.” 

“Wait, med school?” Hikaru asked, “How do you know he went to med school?”

“We were friends back in med school, that’s actually how we met. We had a lot of classes together and we spent our time helping each other study. If we had nothing to study, we would go to a cafe, sit down and have a coffee. We kind of lost touch for a while, but it was a nice surprise when we found out we would be roommates for the next four years. It didn’t take us long to get reacquainted.”

“Huh,” Hikaru exhaled, “Sounds like you guys are really good friends.”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll introduce you one day,” Bones half joked, “I think the two of you would get along really well.”

Hikaru laughed. “Whatever you say,” He shrugged, brushing him off.

Bones moved to grab a small box in the drawer of his desk as Hikaru set his bag down next to the bed. “Alright, let’s get to fixing you up, huh? Sit here.” He gestured to the bed, and pulled out the dermal regenerator. “This should do it. It doubles as an osteogenic stimulator too, so it should take care of that nose as well.” He ran the dermal regenerator over his nose and the tops of his cheeks. “I’m really sorry about that, by the way.” He added.

“That’s okay, don’t worry about it.” Hikaru laughed, something warm that almost made Bones forget that he broke the man’s nose. “There was one time that I was sent to the hospital after a bad fencing accident, and it was much worse than this.”

“What happened?” Bones asked, removing the dermal regenerator to inspect Hikaru’s nose.

“During one of my tournaments, one of my competitors ended up getting really aggressive and he knocked me to the ground and beat the shit out of me. I ended up in a coma for 5 weeks. Luckily, the guy got thrown out of the tournament and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”

“Oh shit,” Bones mumbled picking up a scanner to make sure Hikaru didn’t have any other broken bones that he needed to repair. “Well, that’s about it, I guess,” He sighed, setting the scanner down, “You’re free to go.”

Hikaru smiled, “Thank you, I owe you one.” He stood up grabbed his discarded bag and left the room with a prompt, “See you in class.” Hikaru left the room, before Bones could tell him about  
  


Bones let out a heavy sigh as he collapsed onto his bed. He let his hands run through his hair as he thought about his mistake. He hurt someone. He  _ hit _ someone. 

_ “I’m a doctor… I’m not  _ supposed _ to hurt people.” _

Bones sighed again before getting up. He paused for a moment, taking stock of his injuries  –  a split lip and various bruises, the one on his cheek was particularly bad  –  before he went to work on fixing them. He had just started to use the regenerator on one of the smaller ones when his roommate walked in. Bones called out a brief greeting as he continued to fix the bruise, but looked up when he received no reply.

“Hey Ben,” Bones called out again. “You there?”

Ben let out a muffled groan as he sat down at his desk.

“Hey, you okay?  _ Aloe _ ?” Bones asked, using Ben’s nickname from med school. The two of them each had a nickname for each other, Ben’s was Aloe and Bones’ was Leo. 

Despite being friends for seven years, they rarely used each other’s nicknames. They were usually for joking around or when they were concerned about each other.

“Yeah, just a long, very stressful day,” He smiled weakly turning towards Bones. “I just had this long-what the  _ fuck _ happened to you?” His voice raised as he looked at Bones’ bloody and bruised face. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Bones waved off, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Screw me! You’re hurt!” He practically shouted, gesturing at Bones. He took a breath, calming himself. “Here, let me help you.” He took the dermal regenerator from him, looking him over before he ran the regenerator over the injuries on the man’s face. “I’m away for one day,  _ one _ day!” He sighed. Ben took another deep breath and leaned against his desk, dropping the dermal regenerator next to him. “What happened?” He asked, simply. Too exhausted to put any more effort into arguing. 

“I had Hand-to-Hand Combat this afternoon and I didn’t time my block right so...”

“So some asshole socked you in the face?” Ben answered, unamused.

“No, no. No, he didn’t mean to, it was just an accident,” Bones explained, moving to lay down on his bed. “And it makes up for me breaking his nose.”

“What!?” 

“Yeah, he was trying to help me up but I turned around and I accidentally knocked him in the face.”

Ben sighed, rubbing at his temples. “Okay, well I guess it seems like this was all a big accident.”

“Yes it was and there’s nothing to worry about. My partner is this super nice guy, he’s in a couple of my classes and he seems really cool. Trust me, I’m fine, he’s fine, you’re fine. So no one got hurt,” Bones finished, turning his head towards Ben.

“Are you kidding me?” He asked, “ _ You _ got hurt! That guy’s jackass, I hope I never meet him.” He paused to stand up and stretch his legs. “And if I do,” He continued, “I’m going to kick his ass.”

“Aloe, let’s be realistic, you’d never fight someone. You just don’t have it in you.” Bones chuckled quietly. 

Ben sighed, “Yeah, you’re right.”  
  


“But I still don’t like that guy...” 


	2. Chapter 2

Ben loved mornings. He absolutely loved them. From the early morning sunrises to the quiet sound of his footsteps on his way to the bathroom. The only downfall was how crabby Bones got in the morning. It didn’t take long for Ben to figure out that Bones was not a morning person. The man would often wake up and immediately throw the covers back over his eyes. Only after hitting his snooze button several times, would Bones slowly shuffle out of bed, leave their room and stumble back with a large coffee. Which confused Ben entirely because the nearest coffee shop was halfway across campus and there was a ban on coffee in the dorms after a bad incident with Jim a few weeks ago.

Ben cracked open his eyes just as the sun was rising over the Pacific Ocean. He shut off his alarm before it could wake up Bones and he quietly pulled back the covers and climbed out of bed. He grabbed a towel and his toiletries before padding down to the bathroom for his usual morning shower.

When he returned, he was surprised to find Bones awake and out of bed.

“What are you doing up at the crack of dawn?” Ben chuckled. He was still drying his hair as he sat down on his bed.

Bones shot him a glare that would have a fellow cadet frozen to the spot. But after years and years of being friends with the man, Ben was used to Bones’ icy glares. “If I don’t get up early, Jim will show up and drag my ass out of bed...” He grumbled, drinking from his coffee cup.

_“Seriously, where does he get those?”_ Ben muttered to himself.

“...and I would prefer if that doesn’t happen again.”

“Fair point,” Ben nodded, before snickering slightly, “That was pretty funny though.”

“It was not funny!” Bones barked, pointing an accusing finger in Ben’s direction.

“It was really funny,” Ben cackled, tears falling down his face from laughing so hard. He doubled over and wheezed, “He dragged your ass all the way to your History of Starfleet seminar. You were wailing the whole way there for him to release you, but he just kept going until he practically shoved you into your chair.”

Ben was so caught up in the moment that he missed Bones’ mutters of, “I hate you,” “You’re the worst best friend ever,” and “I’m just going to leave now.”

Despite this, Ben continued, “You guys attracted so much attention during that incident. I’m shocked that you didn’t get suspended or have one of the admirals shout at you for making a scene and… you’re gone...”

Ben sighed, collecting his thoughts before standing up, shoving his PADDs into his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He walked out of the room and locked the door behind him. He gave one last sigh as he turned and walked slowly towards the Medical Facilities Building on the far East of campus. He grabbed a Xindi Blue Tea from a small coffee cart and thanked the woman before walking into the building. He took his usual seat in Medical Sciences and waited for his professor to show up.

 

* * *

 

“Hey Bones!” Jim hollered, slinging his arm around the man’s shoulders. “What’s got you in such a bad mood?”

Bones muttered something quietly.

“What was that darlin’?” He joked.

“Do _not_ call me darlin,” Bones warned, narrowing his eyes at the man. He shrugged. “I was just thinking about when you dragged me to class a couple of weeks ago.”

Jim laughed, “Yeah, that was a good day. You made me get you a coffee after class. It was so worth it.”

Bones raised an eyebrow. “A _good_ day? I wouldn’t necessarily call it that.”

“Well I thought it was pretty good. And it’s the reason we now go for coffee after our class.”

Bones started to head to the lecture hall, Jim following close behind. “Come on, let’s get to class.”

 

* * *

 

After a particularly monotonous class, Jim and Bones headed to their usual coffee shop. They had been to a few, but this one was by far their favourite. It was close to the lecture hall so they didn’t have to walk far, and it was small enough that even if it was full, it wasn’t too loud. They got their usual orders and sat down, pulling out their PADDs to do some reading.

“Oh hey, are we still going out to Shambles tomorrow?” Jim asked after a while, taking a sip of his drink.

Bones nodded. “Yeah and Ben said he’ll be able to come.”

“Do you think it would be okay if my roommate tags along?”

“Roommate?” Bones looked at Jim, a look of confusion on his face. “I thought you had fixed the roommate issue.”

Jim sighed. “It’s a long story.” He took another sip of his drink before continuing. “You remember how I had applied for a single room, but they assigned me to a double?” Bones nodded. “Well it turned out that my roommate had also applied for a single. So I hacked into the databank and moved it so that he had a single room, and I kept the double with him still registered as my roommate” He explained, gesturing minutely, “Anyway, I got caught, so they assigned me a new one.”

Bones scoffed. “You’re lucky that’s all they did! You could have gotten in real trouble, Jim.”

He shrugged. “I think they just thought that they had made a mistake and double booked the other guy.”

“So who’s the new roommate?”

“Pavel Chekov. He’s this 14 year old genius. He came late in the term, so they roomed him with me because all the rooms are full. Except for mine.” He shrugged again. “He seems like a good kid but he’s new and he doesn’t know too many people.”

Bones nodded, “Yeah he can join us. I’ll ask Ben tonight, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“On that note,” Jim said, standing up, “I gotta bounce, but I’ll see you tomorrow, Bones.”

Bones sighed heavily. “I wish you would stop calling me that.”

“Not going to happen,” Jim called as he walked out the door of the coffee shop, leaving Bones to grimace at his PADD.

 

* * *

 

Bones shuffled into the his dorm the next day after a particularly long Biochemistry class. He let out a long sigh, running his hands through his hair, thoroughly messing it up.

He heard Ben chuckle, “Rough day?” As he collapsed onto his bed, exhausted.

“Long day,” He groaned, covering his face with his hands.

“Well, you get a full evening of relaxing before class tomorrow.” Ben hummed, moving to get up from where he lay on his own bed.

“It’s 3 hours with Jim, how relaxing can it be?” Bones spoke, rolling his head to look up at Ben.

Ben shrugged. “You have a point there,” He laughed, searching his dresser for something to wear to Shambles.

“The last time we went out with Jim, you got arrested, I got a tramp stamp, Scotty ended up with a one way ticket to Cuba and Jim wore a kilt.” Bones grumbled, shuffling to his feet and grabbing a towel before going into the bathroom.

“Well it won’t be as bad as that,” Ben hollered.

“I sure hope not,” Bones chuckled, before closing the door to the bathroom. He stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed behind him. _“I can’t imagine that it can get worse than that.”_

 

* * *

 

Bones walked out of the shower, drying his hair with his towel as he left the bathroom. Ben was sitting at his desk chair, wearing a light blue dress shirt and a pair of black denim pants. He was also wearing his glasses that he wore on their outings and for his late night and early morning reading sessions. Bones kept telling him that he should wear his glasses everyday, due to his high prescription, but despite Ben trying to wear them more often, he would misplace them regularly.

Bones tried to get him to use Retinax V as an alternative, but after several months with no progress, Ben gave up on it. He eventually found the daily administered Retinax IV, which proved to be much more effective. The only downfall was, if he missed a day, his vision would return its original state.

“Well, I’d better get going,” Ben let out, as he stood up from his chair and stretched his legs. “I have to check on my Spring Coyote.”

“Is that the one that got too big for dorm room standards and got moved to the botany labs?” Bones asked, vaguely remembering a large, fuzzy, purple plant with 2 inch, red spikes on its stems and fluorescent pink soil.

“That’s the one,” Ben smiled, grabbing his keys and wallet before heading out the door and towards the botany labs.”

Bones shook his head as he walked towards his dresser. He chuckled, worrying about the poor man that would have to put up with Ben’s antics in the future. The poor man that would marry Ben after they two of them fell in love.

He grabbed the outfit he had chosen to wear and changed quickly before heading to the fountain near the main entrance. It had become their usual meeting spot for their outings, its location an almost equal distance away from each of their rooms. Bones was the first to arrive. He sat on the edge of the fountain and pulled out a PADD to read while he waited for the others. When he heard someone calling his name, he looked up to find Hikaru heading towards him. He called out a greeting when he got closer.

“Hey Leonard,” Hikaru spoke, sitting down beside him.

“Hey Hikaru.”

“What are you doing sitting on the edge of a fountain? It seems far too peaceful for you.” He joked, looking around at his surroundings.

“Ha, ha. You’re very funny.” Bones spoke, unamused, “I’m waiting for Jim, Pavel and Ben. We’re all headed to Shambles for dinner.”

“That sounds fun.” Hikaru let out, pausing for a moment before adding, “I’ve heard really good things about them. My sister went there a few days ago and she really enjoyed herself.”

Before Bones could say anything else, Jim and Pavel approached them.

“Hey Bones!” Jim teased, stopping in front of Bones and Hikaru. Bones groaned slightly before Jim spoke again. “This is Pavel,” He gestured to the small, slim, bushy haired teenager next to him.

“Hi Pavel,” Bones greeted, with a small wave.

“Hello, eet is nice to meet you!” Pavel beamed, speaking so quickly, it was hard to keep up with him. He briefly turned to Hikaru before adding, “And who are you?”

Jim raised an eyebrow before his eyes landed on Hikaru. “Oh, hey Hikaru,” Jim supplied, smiling quickly.

“Hey Jim.”

“Wait a minute,” Bones interjected, “How do you two know each other?”

“We met in the beginning of the year.” Hikaru started.

“Yeah. Remember that roommate thing that happened?” Jim asked. Bones nodded. “Well, Hikaru was my roommate and then I set him up with an awesome single room. You’re welcome, by the way.” Jim finished, turning to Hikaru and elbowing him in the side, playfully.

“Yeah, thank you. I really appreciate it.” Hikaru smiled, feeling a little out of place.

“So, how do you two know each other?” Pavel asked with a heavy Russian accent, looking between Hikaru and Bones.

Hikaru gave a half hearted shrug, “We have Interspecies Protocols and Ethics back to back and Hand to Hand the following day. We might have accidently hit each other in the face in the first day of class.”

“But that’s something we agreed we’d refrain from talking about.” Bones added, remembering Ben’s lecture about being careful and making new friends, not hurting them.

_“He’s going to make a great father one day.”_ Bones thought to himself.

“So Pavel,” Hikaru spoke, changing the subject, “What track are you on?”

“Command. I vant to be ze head nawigator of a great starship one day.” He answered with a huge smile.

“Wow, that’s amazing. Are you-”

“Hey guys,” Ben gasped, running up to them. He stopped in between Jim and Pavel and took several deep breaths before continuing. “Sorry I’m late. There was an issue at the labs. Someone got pierced by my Spring Coyote and I had to track down the serum.”

“Wait,” Hikaru interrupted, looking at tall, broad, Asian man that was still slightly out of breath. “Is your Coyote the one by Lab 7C? The one that’s over 8 feet tall?”

“Yeah, it is.” Ben answered, turning to Hikaru, “How do you know about it?”

“It’s renowned!” Hikaru shrieked, “And it’s super close to my lab. I walk by it every week when I go to check on my plants.”

“Really? I had no idea it had gotten that much attention...” Ben mumbled, before taking a step towards Hikaru. He offered him his hand as he spoke, “I’m Ben, by the way.”

“Hikaru.” He answered, shaking the man’s hand.

The two of them missed the side eyed glance in between Jim and Bones. Bones raised a curious eyebrow and Jim nodded ever so slightly. _“There might be something blooming here...”_ He thought quietly before turning to Hikaru. “Hey, Hikaru! Would you like to join us?” He asked, while Ben took the time to introduce himself to Pavel.

“No, thank you, I wouldn’t want to intrude.” He hummed, looking up at Jim.

“You wouldn’t be intruding,” Bones added.

“You’re more than welcome to join us.” Ben smiled, which made Hikaru’s heart flutter more than he’d like to admit.

“Oh, I don’t know...”

“Oh come on,” Pavel cheered, bouncing on the tips of his toes.

“It’ll be fun,” Jim hummed.

Hikaru smiled, “Okay, you’ve convinced me. I’ll come.”

The group broke out into exaggerated cheers before heading in the approximate direction of Shambles.


	3. Chapter 3

Shambles was a somewhat small, casual restaurant that had only been around for a couple of years. It was run by a couple of Trills and it quickly became the group’s favourite place to congregate. Up against two of the walls, are a series of booths going around the walls of the restaurant and on top of each table sat a different, small plant. In the middle of the restaurant are several square tables, some suited for four people, some suited for 2 people. While off to the side was a small, sectioned off area, with six, tall, bistro tables. The group followed the host through the restaurant to one of the booths and after some discussion they sat, with Jim, Pavel, and Bones on one side, facing Hikaru and Ben. 

The group quickly engaged in a light conversation while they waited for their server to give them their drinks. Their conversation ranged from how their classes were going, to what sounded interesting on their digital menus and what Jim did last weekend. They all made a mutual agreement to never ask about Jim’s private life again. 

“So Bones,” Jim spoke, “What are you getting?”

“Bones?” Hikaru asked before laughing, “How did that happen?”

Bones groaned but Jim happily obliged to Hikaru’s question. “Shortly after we first met,” He begun, “He was telling me about his divorce...”

Bones groaned again; his head falling on the table with a loud thud. He mumbled a quiet, “Ow,” Into the finished table. If he had been sitting across from Jim, he would have kicked the man in the leg, knee or something similar. Instead he sat up slightly and took several gulps from his drink.

Jim continued, “He told me that he lost everything and all he had left was his bones.” Hikaru nodded, pleased with Jim’s explanation. Jim took a sip from his drink as Hikaru did the same. “Plus,” He added, “It works with the whole doctor-thing.”

“Vell, I vas thinking about getting ze Solyanka soup,” Pavel spoke, changing the subject. “After all, all ze best things come from Russia.” He smiled proudly.

“Well then, did you know that Solyanka soup originally came from Georgia?” Ben asked with a devilish smirk.  

The teen shook his head, “You are mistaken Ben, Solyanka vas indeed inwented in Russia. It wouldn’t be Russian if it was not made in Russia and it is a Russian dish.”

“It’s a Georgian dish that is now found in all parts of Russia. Perhaps you need a history lesson.” Ben snickered, resting his head on his hands.

“Oooo, burn!” Jim let out, doing a weird, little, dance thing in his seat.

Pavel frowned. “I don’t like you anymore,” He pouted, crossing his arms across his chest. Which made him look like a 5 year old that was just told he couldn’t have ice cream until he finished his dinner. “You’re just here to cause trouble.”

“It’s okay Pavel,” Bones soothed, ruffling his curls lightly. 

“Ben is a total sweetheart,” Jim joked, but it was very true. Ben was such a softie that Jim wondered how he even got into Starfleet.  _ “But, I guess that is a good trait for a doctor to have.”  _ He thought quietly. 

“I’ve known him for… god, I don’t even know how long it’s been.” Bones spoke, thinking long and hard. “Since our second year at Ole Miss, right?” Bones asked Ben, his brow furrowing.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Ben hummed, “Wow. Has it really been that long?”

“I guess so. Man, that’s almost half my life that I’ve known you.” Bones chuckled lightly.

“You are  _ not _ that young!” Ben articulated to the man from across the table, “I’m not even that young, for that matter.”

“I haven’t been that young in fourteen years,” Bones sighed, running his thumb along the side of his glass. “You probably know more about me than I do.”

“Probably,” Ben laughed back.

Before they could change the subject again, their waiter showed up and asked them what they were ordering. Bones and Ben both got a coal-fired pizza, Jim got the Orange Snapper Surprise, Hikaru ordered the Zucchini Quesadillas and despite Ben’s comments, Pavel got the Solyanka.

“Anything with the word surprise in it is a winner for me.” Jim smiled, closing the menu and handing it to the waiter before he walked off towards the kitchen. 

“I highly disagree with that statement...” Bones grimaced, looking at the Jim uncomfortably.

“I think it’s interesting!”

“I hope you get food poisoning.” Bones muttered into his water glass. 

 

* * *

 

Soon after, the waiter returned with their food and the group fell into comfortable conversations while they ate their food.  

“So Jim,” Ben began, “How’s your Snapper Surprise?”

“Pretty good, actually.” Jim answered, cutting another piece of his dinner. “Want to try some?” 

“God no.” Ben laughed, shaking his head. “I’ll stick with my pizza.” 

“So Pavel,” Bones started, “You’re fifteen, right?”

“Fourteen,” Pavel corrected.

“Oh, oh good you’re fourteen,” He muttered, imagining a 5 year old Pavel playing chess against a Russian chess master, and winning. “So, how did you get into Starfleet?”

“Well, it was very easy.” He smiled, “All I had to do was hack into the Starfleet database-”

“You did what?” Bones almost shouted, “You’re just as bad as Jim!”

“I am kidding. Zat is vhat you call it, yes?” 

Bones sighed, “Yes, that’s what we call it.”

“Actually, Starfleet came to my university and asked me if I vould be interested in joining and I immediately said yes. So, here I am.” 

“Huh, well then.” Bones mumbled, stunned that the fourteen year old had been in university just a few months ago. 

“Vhat about you, Ben?” Pavel asked, “Vhy are you here?”

Ben sighed heavily. “Well, let’s just say that there’s nothing left for me in Jersey.” It was clear to everyone that Ben did not want to discuss this any further, all of them missing the, “It’s all gone,” that Ben murmured under his breath. The conversations then turned to lighter topics, Ben feeling better once Hikaru started to ask him about his greenhouse. 

After some time, Jim noted that Hikaru and Ben were getting along very well.  _ “Almost too well.”  _ He hummed quietly, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly. 

They had immersed themselves in a whole, separate conversation from the light bickering match between Pavel and Bones. It wasn’t like it was abnormal; having two separate conversations within a group of friends, but there was something about how Hikaru kept smiling at Ben’s every word. Or the soft look Ben had in his eyes when he listened to Hikaru’s stories. 

They had only just met, but they talked as if they had been friends for years; old, reunited friends that had been out of touch for a decade. Bones must have noticed it too, the evidence from the small side-eye glances he would make at them from across the table. He would have elbowed Jim in the side and quietly asked if he noticed it too, if it weren’t for Pavel being wedged in between the two of them. 

He made a mental note to ask Jim about it later during their next History of Starfleet class. 

 

* * *

 

Bones was surprised when he checked his PADD and saw that they had already spent 2 hours at the restaurant and they hadn’t even looked at the dessert menu yet. He almost had a heart attack when he saw that there was peach cobbler on the menu. Ben politely declined dessert, while Jim ordered a chocolate cake, Pavel got a chocolate mousse and Hikaru got himself a  crème brûlée . Once they had gotten their desserts, they all headed back to Bones and Ben’s shared room to watch a movie together. As Bones was scrolling through the movies, trying to find one they would all agreed on, Hikaru spoke up from his spot on the floor, confusion evident in his voice. 

“Wait, wait, wait,” He interjected, holding out one of his hands and pointing at the holo screen. “What the honest fuck is, ‘Whiskey Galore?’”

Bones, Jim, and Ben burst out laughing. 

“Oh that...”  Jim giggled, “Our friend, Scotty, he made us watch that a few months ago.”

“He’s got this fascination, well, more like obsession, with hard liquor and old Scottish movies.” Bones explained. 

“He couldn’t make it today because he had a midterm for one of his classes… I can’t remember which one.” Ben added, “It was for his Robotics class, I think.”

“Oh! What about ‘Surfing With My Cheating Husband’?” Bones jokingly asked.

“That sounds terrible, let’s watch it.” Jim said, completely serious. 

“Really?” Ben asked, “Why? Just... why?”

“‘Cause it’s going to be hilarious.” Jim answered, leaning over the edge of the bed and grabbing the PADD from Bones to start the movie.

“I’m going to regret this...” Bones muttered, leaning back on his hands as the rubbed his temples.

Ben shuffled back until his back rested against the bed Pavel was on. “Can you still see?” He asked, looking back at Pavel, who was sprawled out on Bones’ bed.  

“Yes.” Pavel confirmed, nodding at Ben. 

They all turned their attention to the movie as the opening credits began. The movie was just as bad as to be expected; but as Jim had predicted, it was so bad, it was hilarious. 

As the movie came to an end, Bones stretched before getting up, Hikaru, Ben and Jim following suit. They turned to find Pavel sound asleep on Bones’ bed, having fallen asleep during the movie. 

“Should we wake him up?” Asked Jim, looking at Bones. 

“No, I don’t have the heart to wake him. Let him sleep here.” 

“Why don’t you stay here,” Ben suggested, glancing at Jim, “And we’ll just switch rooms for the night. That way it won’t be too disorienting for him in the morning.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Jim nodded. The group said their goodbyes, and Hikaru, Ben and Bones left the room, walking down the hall towards their dorms. It wasn’t too long of a walk to Jim’s dorm, but Bones and Ben walked Hikaru to his room first so that he didn’t have to cross campus to the single housing on his own. They talked about the movie on their way over, and said their goodbyes at the door.    
“You should join us next time too.” Ben said, smiling at Hikaru. “Tonight was a lot of fun.” 

Hikaru grinned back at him. “I’d love to. I really enjoyed it.”

“Well then!” Bones announced loudly, feeling extremely awkward in the current situation. Hikaru and Ben both quirked an eyebrow at his outburst, but made no comment to him. “We-” Bones continued, clapping Ben on the back, “-should get going and leave you to get some sleep.”

“Yeah, it is pretty late and I’ve got an early class tomorrow.” Hikaru yawned, something that made Ben smile fondly at. 

“Okay, goodnight then!” Bones spoke quickly, turning on his heel and leaving the two men alone.

“What was that about?” Hikaru asked Ben once Bones was out of earshot.

Ben shrugged. “I have no idea...”

“Well, I should get to bed,” Hikaru sighed, pointing behind him at his dorm room.

“Yeah. Well, I’ll see you around Hikaru.” Ben hummed.

Hikaru responded with a tired, “See you...” Before entering in the code to open his door. Ben pretended not to notice that his key code was “Plant4Life” and muffled the giggle in his throat.

“Goodnight, Hikaru.” Ben smiled and with a polite wave he waited for Hikaru to enter his room before following Bones’ path back to the doubles’ dorms. 

Hikaru was so tired he didn’t even notice that he uttered a “Goodnight, beautiful,” Before collapsing onto his bed and immediately falling asleep. 

 

* * *

 

“What the hell was that?” Ben let out once he caught up to Bones, whom was already halfway to their dorm. 

“What do you mean?” He asked, genuinely confused.

“That… how you… how you acted back at Hikaru’s dorm. What was that?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

At this point, Ben was getting a little frustrated. “Do you not remember your little outburst? You weren’t exactly being very polite when you told Hikaru we were leaving.”

Bones internally sighed, he didn’t want to lie to Ben, but he knew he couldn’t tell him the truth, not now. He knew there was something brewing for Ben and Hikaru and if he said something now it could ruin something great for them. He hated lying, but he had no choice.

“I’m sorry but I’m tired and I have classes tomorrow and I need some sleep.” He lied, doing his best to make it sound convincing. To his luck, it worked… but not in a good way.

“Yeah, but that’s no way to treat someone. You easily could have said that, or a simple goodbye would have sufficed.” Ben snapped, picking up his pace.

_ “Oh shit… what have I done?”  _ Bones asked himself.  _ “I can’t take it back and I don’t want to make it worse. But I’m not sure if I can make it better...” _

“I’m sorry,” He tried, hoping it would soothe Ben.

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” Ben snarled, turning around to face Bones. His face was furious, it was a face Bones had only ever seen once before and that was a day neither one of them would ever discuss. “You know what?” Ben scoffed, waving off Bones, “Just forget it!”

Bones couldn’t do anything except watch Ben storm off into the distance. He felt a wave of guilt pass through him when Ben walked past the dorms and off towards the west side of the campus.

“Well, that could have gone worse,” He sighed, walking into the dorms. He walked down the hall and paused at the branching off hallways. Left, his and Ben’s room with Pavel and Jim in their beds. But to the right was Jim and Pavel’s completely empty dorm. He thought for a minute before turning left.

He opened the door quietly and pulled open one of his drawers to get out a large blanket to lay out on the floor. Just as he was about to lay down when Ben’s bedside lamp turned on. 

“What are you doing?” Jim whispered, careful not to wake Pavel by being too loud.

Bones sighed, but he needed to get that conversation out of his system. He stood up and quietly sat down on his bed. “Ben and I had a bit of a spat...”

“What do you mean?” Jim asked quietly.

“Oh god… now you sound just like him.” He groaned. “Okay, well this might take a while to explain.”

“I’ve got time,” Jim smiled, “Let it out! Hit me… but, not literally.”

Bones smiled at his little joke before speaking again. “I’m not sure if you noticed this or not, but I think there might be something going on for Hikaru and Ben. Like, they got along so easily and there was just something about how they were talking that was… that was-”

“Oh my god, you noticed it too?!” Jim gasped, a little too loud.

“Yeah, there was just something about them that was different from two people who didn’t know each other at all.” Bones let out, feeling a little bit better.

“Did you notice how Ben’s eyes lit up when Hikaru talked?” Jim asked, his knee bouncing excitedly.

“Yeah I did. Did you see Hikaru’s little flirty smile? The one he uses when he’s hitting on guys at the bar?” 

“No! Did he really do that? Intentionally?”

“Yeah he did. I’m not sure, I don’t think so.”

“He probably didn’t realize he was doing it.”

“Probably not, they only just met.”

“But what’s about this fight of yours?” Jim asked, shuffling closer, “What happened?”

“Well, when we were walking back, it was kind of awkward. It was just me with the two of them and if there is something starting between them, they have no idea.” Bones sighed before continuing, “Anyways, it probably wasn’t weird for them, but I felt like third wheel and I just wanted to get out of there before something went down.”

Jim hummed a quick, “Understandable. Continue...”

“Once we got to Hikaru’s room, I kind of lost it when they were doing the whole, ‘I had a great time’ and ‘we should do this again’. It just felt like two people out on a date and I was sandwiched between the two of them. So I blurted out that Ben and I should leave so Hikaru could sleep and I guess it came out really rude and sudden. So, once Ben caught up to me, he got mad about how rude I was being and how oblivious I was that I didn’t know I was being rude. When in reality, I couldn’t tell him that I felt awkward when I was alone with the two of them.”

Bones collapsed backwards onto his bed and let out a long, silent sigh. “Am I a terrible person, Jim?” He mumbled, “My best friend is pissed at me because I’m an idiot and couldn’t just leave them alone properly?”

“Bones,” Jim soothed, scooching closer to him. “You’re not a bad person. I’m sure you and Ben will get through this and one day, you’ll tell him the truth about what really happened and you’ll laugh it off together.” 

“Really?” He asked, unconvinced.

“Yes, you’ll live. He’s not going to be mad at you for long.”

He smiled brightly, “Thanks Jim… I think that’s the best advice you’ve ever given.”

“Well, cherish it. It doesn’t happen too often.”


	4. Chapter 4

Ben usually didn’t get mad, it just wasn’t in his nature. It would happen on rare occasions, but for the most part, Ben was a sweetheart that would make pancakes for his friends for breakfast in little tupperware containers. He would make his “Never-Fail” Hangover Smoothie for them when needed, and he always had something to cheer each of them up when need be.

Botany had been a hobby of his since he was a little kid. He loved watching how a seed, placed in a few centimeters of soil could grow into a magnificent flower. He thought it was beautiful.

Maybe that’s why it could always calm him down. De-stress him. 

He thought about his fight with Bones as he repotted his Deltan Spiny Duck.

“He had no right to talk that way to Hikaru!” He muttered aloud. “Hikaru is so kind and friendly, why would he do that?”

He pulled a large flower pot out from under one of his tables and placed it in front of him.  _ “And they’re friends. Why would he treat him that way if they’re friends?” _ He asked, his thoughts less angry, but more confused. As he filled the empty pot with soil, he felt his nerves begin to relax.  _ “But, why would he… why did… why...” _ His thoughts faded away as he gently pulled the Spiny Duck out of the small pot and placed it into the fresh, larger pot. 

_ “I- I just don’t understand...” _

Ben sighed. He leaned over to grab an open bag of soil and slowly poured it around the newly potted plant; filling the remaining area with new soil. 

“Maybe I overreacted...” He hummed, softly rubbing at one of the Spiny Duck’s leaves. Which, surprisingly, contain no spines or spikes and have a very soft, fuzzy texture.  _ “Maybe he was just tired and that was it. No hurtful intentions or rude behaviour. Just plain, old, tired and cranky Leo.”  _

He leaned back against the wall of his lab and looked up at the ceiling, sadly. “Yeah… that must be it. Hikaru was dead tired too,” Ben yawned, rubbing at his eyes, _ “Like me…”  _

“Hikaru probably didn’t even realize Bones was cranky… that he was tired.”

_ “No one was hurt… no feelings hurt… no harm done…” _

Ben smiled, his eyes falling shut. In the morning he would forget that he fell asleep to the image of Hikaru’s bright, sunny smile and his dark brown eyes.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Ben woke, still leaning against the wall of the lab. He winced as he moved to get up, reaching up to massage the crick out of his neck before standing.  _ “Sleeping against a wall may not have been the  _ best _ idea.”  _ He sighed, grabbing his pot from where he had left it on the floor and put it back in its spot. Once he had finished putting away everything from the night before, Ben headed out to the dorms in search of Bones. He wasn’t looking forward to facing Bones due to his own behaviour last night. 

_ “I overreacted… I shouldn’t have been so rude.”  _ He repeated in his head, over and over again. He paused once he reached Jim and Pavel’s dorm. Upon finding it empty, Ben sighed before he turned around and left, heading for his and Bones’ room to see if he was there. Taking a deep breath, he entered in their keycode and the door opened with a swoosh. Bones was already there, wide awake, at his desk and Jim and Pavel were getting ready to leave.

“Hey Ben, we were just heading out.” Jim said, glancing between Bones and Ben before heading to the door. The two of them left, the door sliding shut behind them. 

Bones looked up at Ben as the door shut. “Hey,” He spoke softly, unsure of how Ben was feeling from last night.

“Hey,” Ben replied, sounding let down.

_ “Why does he sound so sad?”  _ Bones questioned, giving him a quizzical look,  _ “I’m the one that was rude to Hikaru last night. Why is he so upset?” _

“I should apologize to for how I reacted yesterday...” Ben trailed off, sitting on his bed slowly and resting his head in his hands.

“Wait, what?” Bones almost laughed, “I’m the one that was grumpy and irritable. I should be apologizing to both you and Hikaru right now.”

“But I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You were tired, I had no reason to react that way.” Ben countered, lifting his head up from his hands. 

“Can we just agree that we’re both idiots and move past this?” Bones asked, standing up from his desk chair and sitting next to Ben on his bed. 

Ben smiled. “Yeah, I can agree to that,” He laughed, “Now get dressed, we both have classes we need to get to.”


	5. Chapter 5

It had been two weeks since Bones and Ben’s dispute. Things had calmed down since then, ‘ _ water under the bridge’ _ , as Bones had said when Jim had asked about it. The group had gone back to having weekly outings, Hikaru soon becoming a permanent fixture in their friend group. When they had learned of Pavel’s interest in seeing the sights of San Francisco, the group had made an effort to take him to all of the big tourist points. The previous week they had gone to Alcatraz Island. Which wasn’t just exciting for Pavel. The rest of them had never been either, not even Hikaru, who had been in San Francisco the longest. They spent the afternoon there, leaving campus right after they had finished their classes. The six of them were exhausted by the time they got back to their dorms, all of them falling asleep as soon as they collapsed on their beds. 

This week it was Bones and Jim’s turn to choose where they were going. The two were sitting next to each other, not really listening to what their History of Starfleet professor was saying.    
  


“... No, I think we should wait until Pavel’s legal for that. We wouldn’t want him to feel left out.” Jim hummed, running a hand through his hair. “What about the streetcars?”

“I think they have them closed for construction.” Bones said, looking at Jim. “Twin Peaks?” 

“That might work. Though supposedly the Coit Tower is good too. Both are used for sightseeing, but I’m not sure which is better.”

“And we should definitely go to Golden Gate Park.” Bones said, absentmindedly writing down some notes shown on the front screen.

“Oh man, Hikaru would love that!” Jim smiled. 

“So would Ben.”

“Well, Hikaru grew up in San Francisco. He probably spent his childhood running around Golden Gate Park.”

“But Ben loves plants just as much as Hikaru does, if not more.”

Jim inhaled sharply before asking, “Don’t they have a Flower Conservatory there?” 

“Yeah…?”

“What if we arrange a ‘group date’,” Jim paused to do air quotations with his hands, “Just you, me and the two love birds. We’d tell them that the park would be our next group outing and we would lead them towards the conservatory.”

“Okay...” Bones hummed, “Then what?”

“Then, once they start talking about all the plants and flowers, we will quietly leave, so they can have a quiet afternoon to themselves. What do you think?” Jim asked, feeling pretty proud of himself.

Bones sighed. “So we’re going to meddle in our friends’ relationship?”

“Yeah.”

“Just because we think they’d be good together and they’ve been dancing around each other ever since they met.”

Jim hummed in agreement. “Yup.”

Bones paused to massage him temples. “Why do I let myself get roped into things like this… fine I’ll do it.”

“YES!” Jim shouted, momentarily forgetting that they were in the middle of a lecture. 

“Cadet Kirk!” Their professor yelled, “I warned you before to stop interrupting my lectures. Now kindly keep your mouth shut or leave my class.”

“Sorry, Commander Linn.” He apologized, “Won’t happen again.”

“It better not, Mr. Kirk.” The commander warned before returning to his monotone lecture.

“After this we should message the love birds about ‘our’ next group outing.” Jim whispered to Bones, while keeping an eye on Commander Linn.

“Okay,” Bones whispered back, “We have to be quick, before one of them gets a different boyfriend or something...”

“Alright, let’s make our friends fall in love.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the art is now embedded within the story and the link can be found [here](http://sleepymccoy.tumblr.com/post/157686861474/benkaru-event-i-had-a-lovely-time-working-with#notes). We had a lot of fun working with [sleepymccoy](http://sleepymccoy.tumblr.com), her art is absolutely gorgeous and the piece she made for this event is incredibly beautiful. It's exactly what we pictured while we were writing this story. [sleepymccoy](http://sleepymccoy.tumblr.com) I don't know how you did that, but thank you so much.

Jim messaged Ben and Hikaru as soon as he got out of class, letting them know about the plan to visit the park, and asking them what they thought about possibly visiting the conservatory. When he got enthusiastic answers from both of them, he grinned, saying his goodbye to Bones and headed off to his next class, unbelievably pleased that his plan was in motion.

They planned the outing for the following Saturday to give them more time to look around. The park was stunning, many of the flowerbeds had just begun to blossom, and all of the plum trees were flowering, the branches covered in the small blooms. The weather was surprisingly warm that day, not that it got that cold in San Francisco to begin with. The four of them enjoyed wandering around the park, and taking in the nice weather, but soon enough, Jim directed their attention to the conservatory.

“We should take a look in there.” He said, pointing in the direction of the building.

“What is it?” Ben asked, looking towards Jim.

Hikaru spoke up, the excitement evident in his voice. “That’s the Conservatory of Flowers! They have over 256 different, rare and exotic species inside. I used to go there all the time as a kid. It’s absolutely beautiful inside.” The four of them walked over to the conservatory, Hikaru leading the way. When they got inside, Ben gasped, a look of wonder on his face. He took a moment to glance around the building from where they stood, taking in all the different plants that were visible just from the doorway.

“How big is this place?”

“Huge. C’mon,” He gestured for the others to follow him, “We have lots to see yet.”

They wandered along the pathways throughout the conservatory, Ben and Hikaru leading the way, while Bones and Jim followed behind them. Ben and Hikaru stopped often, discussing different aspects of the plants. They had species from all over, from Vulcan to Ferenginar. The two of them appeared to be in their own little world, seemingly at home among all the plants.

**“** Cyclamen, found across Europe and in parts of Africa and Asia **,”** Ben hummed, admiring the various types of Cyclamen, they’re appearances and make-up differing depending on their place of origin.

“Originally, people thought that they were in the same family as the Primroses, before discovering that they are actually in the Myrsine family.” Hikaru added, standing next to Ben.

“Did you know that throughout time, not only did we discover 5 other species of Cyclamen, but some of these species have adapted to colder conditions?” Ben asked Hikaru, glancing up at him briefly before turning his gaze back to the plants. “So they don’t get frost damage and they can survive in colder climates.”

As Ben and Hikaru moved on to the next plant, Bones and Jim exchanged glances. Jim motioned in the direction of the door; a gesture that said, “Now’s our chance, let’s go!”

Bones nodded and quietly tiptoed his way towards Jim. Jim looked back at their friends, making sure they were distracted before he silently dashed into the next room, out of sight. Bones waited for a minute before following Jim’s path, into the savannah corridor and out the main entrance.

“Do you think they saw us leave?” Jim asked, lightly jogging away from building.

“No, I don’t think so.” Bones answered, while keeping up with Jim’s pace. He thought for a minute before speaking up again. “How long do you think it will be until they realize we’re gone?”

“Knowing them and how wrapped up in botany they can get,” Jim started before bursting out laughing, “They’ve probably already forgotten that we came there with them.”

 

* * *

 

“...so the _Opuntia microdasys_ are often referred to as, ‘angel's wings’ or ‘bunny ears cactus’ and sometimes even ‘polka-dot cactus’.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Also, they only grow about 2 feet tall and the glochids on the plant itself cause irritated skin, almost like an electric pulse.” Hikaru smiled, before moving on to gently rub one of the small Aloe plants the conservatory had on display.

“Really? I didn’t actually know that.” Ben smiled, playing with the fuzz on a baby _Cephalocereus senilis_ . “Did _you_ know that these,” Ben spoke, gesturing at the 10 centimeter tall cactus, “Are called ‘Old Man Cactus’ because of their-”

“-shaggy, white coat?” They spoke together, causing a fit of giggles to emerge from both men.

“You know, if you’re not careful, you’ll prick yourself on that cactus.” Hikaru teased with a small smile.

“I’m not going to-OW!” Ben let out, trying not to alert too much attention, despite his pained thumb. Hikaru had to fight the urge to roll his eyes and say ‘I told you so.’ But instead he rushed to Ben’s side and help the man pull out 7 cactus spines from his thumb.

“Okay, that should be all of them...” Hikaru hummed, giving Ben’s thumb a once-over before deciding he was thorn-free and released his hand.

“Thanks Hikaru,” Ben smiled and laughed, “You’d think someone who majored in Xenobotany for 2 years would be smarter than that.”

“It happens to the best of us.” Hikaru hummed, standing up from where he sat down to look at Ben’s injury. He offered Ben a hand, which he took, and helped him to his feet.

As Ben wandered over to the next section, Hikaru looked around the room and realized something wasn’t right. Jim and Bones were nowhere to be found.

“Hey, Ben?” Hikaru asked, walking up behind him.

“Yes?” Ben murmured, his eyes glued to the Vulcan Fire Dust in front of him.

“What happened to Jim and Bones?”

“They’re right behind us,” Ben mumbled, pointing behind him. His finger was pointed at the wall behind them.

“Uh, no they’re not.” Hikaru answered, staring at the wall Ben was still pointing at.

“What are you talking about?” Ben asked, finally looking away from the plant. His gaze switched from Hikaru, to the empty room and back to Hikaru again. “Huh… where’d they go?” Ben asked, lightly scratching at his head.

“That’s what I was trying to find out.” Hikaru mumbled, pulling out his PADD from his satchel and opening his messages. He had no new messages, which was concerning, so he sent both Bones and Jim a quick text.

_“Hey, what happened to you guys? We didn’t bore you too much, did we?”_

“Did they text you?” Ben asked, standing a few steps away, not wanting to peer over Hikaru’s shoulder.

“Not yet,” Hikaru mumbled.

“That’s weird for Bones, he always leaves a message or something similar in these situations. Do you want to wait for them to text you back before we continue?” Ben asked, sounding slightly worried.

“Do you mind?” Hikaru asked, feeling guilty. He didn’t want to stop, but he wanted to make sure that Bones and Jim were alright.

“No, of course not.” Ben smiled, sitting on a nearby bench. He patted the empty space next to him, prompting Hikaru to join him. Hikaru beamed before sitting next to Ben on the bench. Hikaru wasn’t really sure about what to do in this sort of situation.

He looked down as his PADD chirped, seeing a notification pop up.

_1 New Message_

He unlocked his PADD with his fingerprint and his conversation with Bones immediately opened up. He angled his PADD to the side so Ben could read the message as well.

_“Sorry, Jim touched one of the plants in the tropical sector; his throat swelled up and his hands and arms burst into hives. I would have messaged you before, but I figured it was best to get Jim out of there and back to campus asap.”_

_“Oh, okay. We were just worried about you because you were nowhere to be found.”_

_“Again, sorry about that. I’ll get Jim to apologize for that later.”_

_“Don’t worry about it. Is he all right now?”_

_“Yeah, the idiot’s fine.”_

_“Okay, well if you’re all fine, then Ben and I are going to continue taking in all these beautiful flowers.”_

_“Okay, tell Ben I’ll see him when he comes back to our dorm room.”_

“I will.”

“So everything is okay, then?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, everything is fine,” Hikaru confirmed arching his back to stretch out his arms. Ben smiled and stood up, surprising Hikaru when he pulled him to his feet. “Shall we continue?” Ben beamed, motioning with his hands in the direction of the next room.

“Let’s,” Hikaru grinned, walking side-by-side Ben into the Oceanic sector.

“Ooooo,” Ben let out, walking quickly towards the Saurian Aquatic section. He stopped in front of a small, brightly glowing plant. It somewhat resembled certain species of Terran sea anemone. Hikaru walked up to the aquarium, “Golden Low Leek, Origin: Sauria,” The sign read.

“I studied these when I was young,” Ben smiled softly, “Because I went on a class trip to an Aquatics Center in primary school. They had an entire room of these little guys.”

“They’re beautiful,” Hikaru hummed.

“Even more so in the dark. They’re bioluminescent.” Ben added, his eyes permanently fixed on the aquatic plant. “I’ll never forget when they turned out the lights and the entire room was lit in this bright, golden gleam.”

“Wow,” Hikaru breathed.

“It was magnificent. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so beautiful in my entire 26 years of living.”  

“Maybe you could get one for your dorm.” Hikaru suggested, completely serious.

“I don’t know, Bones might not approve of a bright yellow plant, lighting up our room at night.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Hikaru smiled, joining Ben in admiring the plant. Ben was right, it was absolutely beautiful. He was so busy looking at the plant, he missed Ben turning his glance to him and the uplifting look he had in his eyes.

After what seemed like an eternity, the two men managed to look away from the golden plant and move on to the rest of the room. They took their time, talking about the plants they had studied or the ones that caught their eyes. They moved through the remaining sections; the Tundra, Marshland and Swamp and the Alpine. They were surprised when they had reached the end and were back at the main entrance of the building.

“Wow, how long were we in there for?” Ben laughed, stretching his back. It made several loud popping noises, which both men winced at.

“It’s 19:00,” Hikaru answered, looking at his PADD. He put it back into his bag and sighed in disbelief, “We were in there for six hours.”

“Oh man, I guess it’s a good thing Jim and Bones left. They would have been bored out of their minds.”

“More like they would have killed us before we got halfway through.” Hikaru joked, holding open the door for Ben. Ben smiled and walked through the first door, holding open the second one for Hikaru.

“Wow, it’s dark out...” Ben hummed, as he and Hikaru walked down the sidewalk towards the Academy campus.

“Yeah,” Hikaru hummed, rubbing at his arms. He was only wearing a light, pullover sweater and he was starting to feel quite cold. “It’s a little chilly.” He mumbled, picking up his pace.

“Hikaru, wait!” Ben spoke, stopping to take off his jacket.

Hikaru turned around and realized what Ben was doing. “Ben, you don’t have to-”

“Here,” He smiled, handing Hikaru his jacket. “You’re cold. You can thank me later.”

“I’ll thank you now,” Hikaru murmured, putting his arms into the sleeves and buttoning up the front of the jacket. “Thank you, Ben,” He hummed, putting his hands into the jacket’s pockets.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ben hummed.

“Oh hey, do you want to do something fun?” Hikaru asked, clapping his hands together, once they had started walking again.

“Isn’t that what we just did?” Ben joked with a cocky smile, “You know, back at the conservatory?”

Hikaru sometimes had a hard time believing a sweet guy like Ben knew what they term sarcasm meant. It was even harder for him to understand that Ben was fluent in it. “Ha, ha… very funny.” Hikaru replied, “I meant, would you like to exchange character building questions.”

“Uh, sure,” Ben hesitated, “But what are character building questions?”

“They can be anything, like, ‘how many pillows do you sleep with?’”

“Two,” Ben answered.

Hikaru laughed, “Ben, you didn’t have to answer that one, I was just giving an example.”

“Oh, okay...” Ben mumbled, feeling awkward.

“I also sleep with two.” Hikaru added, which made Ben feel a little bit better. “You try one.”

“Umm,” Ben thought before asking, “Would ‘what did you want to be when you grew up?’ Be a character building question?”

“Xenobotanist, and yes it is.”

“Ooo, I like these.” Ben smiled, clapping his hands together excitedly, “Favourite snack?”

“Sorry this is so cliched, but chocolate. I can’t live without it.” Hikaru hummed, thinking about dark chocolate covered strawberries, cranberries, pretzels and anything else remotely chocolate related. “Do you have any allergies?”

“Yeah, I’m highly allergic to both dogs and, as ironic as this sounds, I’m also extremely allergic to pollen.” Ben explained.

“What?” Hikaru asked, stunned, “But you spent the whole day with me at a giant garden and a flower conservatory. Why and how did you go if you’re allergic. Plus you’re a botanist!”

Ben chuckled. “Yeah, I know, it’s probably the stupidest thing I could do.” He stopped to pull out a small, travel sized hypo out of his jacket pocket, along with several allergy medication injection serums. “ _This_ ,” Ben heavily emphasized, “Is how I haven’t died today. Because I love plants, but I love my life more.”

“You’re an idiot,” Hikaru sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I know just don’t tell Bones,” Ben pleaded, “He doesn’t know about my allergies and I’d prefer to keep it that way.”

Hikaru let out a small smile, “I won’t. Your secret is safe with me.”

“Favourite colour?”

“Green.”

“Mine’s blue.”

“Describe your ideal Saturday night.”

“Lying on my bed, reading a book.”

“No long night partying?” Hikaru teased.

“No,” Ben answered, “That’s not really my sort of thing...”

“You and me should get together and spend a Saturday night at one of our places.”

Ben smiled. “That sounds nice.” He hummed, thinking about Hikaru laying on his bed, while he sat in a chair and read, _The Tree Lady_.

Ben decided to break the small silence and continue with their questions. “Left-handed or right-handed?”

“Left.”

“Really? Me too!”

“Do you have any quirks?”

“I have to sleep on the left side of the bed.”

“Why?” Hikaru asked.

“It’s so that I can charge my PADD and my phone on my bedside table...”

“Well that makes sense. It doesn’t matter to me which side of the bed I sleep on.”

“What do you have in your pockets?”

“Well technically I don’t have anything in my pockets, I do, however have my hands in your pockets,” Hikaru answered, earning a series of giggles from Ben. “Do you have any bad habits?”

“Yeah. I crack my knuckles and I always leave my glasses in public places. I’ve had to replace my glasses 27 times within the past 2 years.”

“Oh my god. How are you not broke?” Hikaru asked, very concerned.

“I am broke… I’m very broke.” Ben sighed, rubbing at his temples. “Do you have a criminal record?”

“I’d rather not talk about that...” Hikaru trailed off, staring at the ground.

“So you do...” Ben smirked, “What’d you do?”

“I might have, uh, stolen a shuttle for, umm, a joyride around the city...” Hikaru mumbled, refusing to make eye contact with Ben.

“Huh, I never thought you’d be the type to go breaking laws all willy-nilly.” Ben teased, nudging Hikaru’s shoulder playfully.

“My mom was pretty pissed when she had to bail me out of jail, but after some time, she calmed down and everything went back to normal.”

“Favourite type of ice cream?” Ben asked, changing the subject.

“Chocolate Toffee. Favourite drink?”

“Tea, tea all the way.”

“What kind of tea?”

“Green. Favourite shirt?”

“The gold uniform I will own in four years.” Hikaru joked, making Ben roll his eyes. “Favourite book?”

“There’s no way I can pick a favourite but the book I’m reading right now, _The Tree Lady,_ is really good.  Favourite Food?”

“My mom’s Bibimbap, she makes it everything I come over.”

“Oh, I love Bibimbap. I haven’t had that… since I was a… kid...” Ben trailed off, feeling uncomfortable.

Hikaru noticed Ben’s change in mood and decided it was best to avoid topics surrounding his childhood. “Well if you want, you could come to my parent’s place and have some with us.”

Ben smiled. “I would love that.”

“Greatest achievement?” Hikaru asked, trying to change the subject.

“Getting my PhD. Do you fidget?”

“All the time.”

The two of them continued to walk side by side, asking each other, rapid fire questions until they had made their way to the single dorms.

“Well, I guess this is good night,” Hikaru smiled brightly. Ben swore there was sunlight bouncing off his teeth, but with the sun already set and the moon behind the clouds, he knew that was impossible. _“Maybe it’s just the stars.”_ He thought, simply.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Unless you want to stay here for a while?” Hikaru asked, trying to be polite.

Ben shook his head. As much as he wanted to stay, he knew that if he stayed for a while, he’d be too tired to walk home afterward. “No, I should probably head back. Bones will be wondering what’s taking me so long.” He smiled at Hikaru and said goodnight before heading back towards his own dorm. On his way, he thought back to their day, reminiscing about the day he had with Hikaru. He couldn’t remember the last time he had enjoyed himself so much. Not only had he gotten to see many different varieties of plants (some he wouldn’t have even _dreamed_ of seeing) but he had also spent time with Hikaru. He was quickly becoming fond of the other man, their conversations came easily and they were never short of different topics to discuss. Ben was so lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize that he was already at his door, or that he had left his jacket in the careful, gentle hands of Hikaru.

“Hey, what took you so long?” Bones asked once Ben entered their room.

“I was walking Hikaru home.” Ben explained. “How’s Jim?” He asked, oblivious to the fact that Jim was, in fact, perfectly fine, and hadn’t actually had an allergic reaction.

“He’s fine now, he’s back in his dorm.”

“Well that’s good,” Ben sighed, laying down on his bed, exhausted. He fell asleep before he could debate whether or not he should put on pajamas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would highly recommend taking a look at [sleepymccoy's](http://sleepymccoy.tumblr.com) blog. She has some absolutely incredible art. We send our thanks to you for choosing our story and drawing for us. We had a great time working with you and we would love to do this again.


	7. Chapter 7

It took Ben and Hikaru until the second outing Bones and Jim tried to set them up on before they realized what they were trying to do. The two of them had both gotten messages saying that the group was going for dinner at The Narrow Orchid on the following Saturday, however, when they got there, they found out that was not the case.

 

* * *

 

“What the fuck was that?” Ben let out, staring at Bones, somewhat annoyed.

“What are you talking about?” Bones grumbled.

“Our date!” Ben tried again, getting more annoyed, “What was up with that?”

“Oh yeah, Jim said he was going to set you guys up on a date.” Bones answered, simply, returning to the assignment he was working on before.

“And who decided to go overboard?” Ben questioned, unamused.

“I don’t think dinner reservations are ‘overboard’.”

“No, no, no,” Ben interrupted, “This is what happened...”

 

_—_ _A couple hours earlier_ —

 

_“They said to meet here for seven, right?” Ben asked, looking at his watch before looking back at Hikaru, confusion on his face._

_“That’s what it said in the message…” He trailed off, checking his PADD again. “Maybe we should message them and ask?”_

_“Yeah, ask them and double check that’s it’s today and at seven.”_

_“Okay.” Hikaru pulled up the conversation he had with Jim earlier and asked him for reconfirmation on the group dinner. He got an answer almost immediately. “He says they’re just running late and to start without them.” He said, putting the PADD back in his satchel. “The reservation is under your name.”_

_“Hmm, well that’s weird...” Ben spoke quietly before approaching the hostess. “Uh, reservation for Ben?” He asked, unsure if Jim used his first or last name._

_“Mr. Jung?” She asked, once she looked through the restaurant’s PADD._

_“Yes.”_

_“Right this way,” She smiled leading Hikaru and Ben into the semi-formal restaurant. She gestured to their table before placing their menus opposite of each other. “Your server will be right with you.”_

_“Umm,” Ben let out, hesitantly, grabbing her attention. “Our reservation is for four, not two.” He spoke, looking at the small, round table for two._

_“It says right here,” She said, turning the PADD and pointing at Ben’s reservation, “That you made a reservation for two.”_

_“Oh, okay.” Ben hummed, sitting down in one of the chairs and Hikaru sitting in the other._

_“Your server will be right with you,” She repeated, before turning to leave._

_“I’ll message Jim and ask what going on?” Hikaru asked, unsure._

_“Yeah, ask him if he accidently made a reservation for two instead of for four.” Ben confirmed, waiting for Hikaru to message Jim. Hikaru sent the message, once again getting an answer almost immediately. He looked at the PADD for a minute before passing Ben the PADD. “No, we’re not coming,” It read._

_“What does he mean they’re not coming?” Ben asked, handing the PADD back to Hikaru._

_“I’m not sure…” He trailed off, sending Jim a ‘What do you mean?’ and getting a ‘Have fun!’ in return. “He just said to ‘have fun’.” Hikaru said, looking at Ben._

_“Hikaru, what’s going on? This is strange...”_

_Before he could answer, their waitress approached their table carrying a bottle. “Here is the wine you pre ordered. Are you guys ready to order, or do you need some more time?”_

_“Uh, thank you. Um, I’ll have the Shrimp Scampi.”_

_“And I’ll have the Grilled Salmon,” Hikaru added. Their waitress nodded, writing down their orders before leaving the two of them alone._

_“What is happening?” Hikaru asked, picking up the wine bottle and shaking it while he spoke. “Are Jim and Bones… are they...”_

_“Are they trying to set us up?” Ben asked, his brow furrowed._

_“I think they are.” Hikaru hummed, setting the bottle down and looking up at Ben. “So…?” Hikaru trailed off, suddenly feeling very shy._

_“So, what?”_

_“How do you feel about that?” He asked, nervously, his voice shaking slightly._

_“I’m… I don’t know. I only met you a couple of weeks ago,” Ben mumbled, which made Hikaru’s heart sink. “But...”_

_Hikaru’s heart leapt to his throat. He failed to suppress an excited gasp, of which, made Ben blush heavily._

_“...you’re very cute and you’re sweet and friendly. I get along with you really well and we have a lot in common.”_

_Hikaru now had a blush to match Ben’s._

_“And, even though we’ve haven’t had a lot of time together, I have really enjoyed the time we have spent together.”_

_“Okay, I can die happy now,” Hikaru sighed, earning a fit of laughter from Ben._

_“So, I take it you’re happy with this?” Ben asked, reaching across the table to hold Hikaru’s hands._

_Hikaru nodded, giving Ben’s hands a soft squeeze. “Yeah, I love how easily we get along. I love listening to you talk and hearing about all the little details about you. You’re really pretty and I would love to get to know you better.”_

_“Hikaru?” Ben murmured._

_“Yes?” Hikaru beamed, bouncing in his seat._

_“_ That’s adorable, _” He thought quietly,_ “He’s adorable.”

_“Would you like to-” Before he could finish his question, their waitress returned to their table, holding a large vase of flowers._

_Hikaru was beyond baffled at this point. “Were the flowers requested beforehand as well?” He asked, hoping that there wasn’t any more weird surprises from Bones and Jim._

_“Yes, they were.” She smiled, setting the vase down on the table. “You requested half a dozen red Roses, interspersed with white Jasmine, Heliotrope and Goldenrod.”_

_“Thank you,” The men answered, watching as their waitress left with a polite smile. “Is this going to stop?” Hikaru asked, his head in his hands. “I think we got the point.”_

_Ben laughed, “Yeah, the Goldenrod for encouragement? The Heliotrope for eternal love and the White Jasmine for sweet love? Not to mention the cliched roses; which I’m not complaining about, I love them a lot. But I think they’ve gone above and beyond with all of this.”_

_“Well, we might as well treat ourselves.” Hikaru smiled, grabbing the wine bottle and pouring a glass for each of them._

_“To a brighter future,” Ben toasted, raising his glass._

_“Together,” Hikaru added, clinking his glass against Ben’s. They both took a sip from their glasses before setting them down. “Wow,” Hikaru breathed._

_“That is amazing,” Ben hummed, his eyes closing shut._

_“What were you saying before?” Hikaru asked, taking another sip from his glass._

_“Oh, are you… are you free next Saturday?” Ben asked, blushing again._

_“Yes I am,” Hikaru nodded._

_“Would you like to-”_

_“Yes,” Hikaru answered before Ben could even finish his question._

_“Okay. I’ll text you the details later?”_

_“I look forward to it.” Hikaru smiled brightly._

_  
They continued their conversation, in between sips of wine and fits of laughter, for 15 minutes._

_“Well, I'm going to go the the washroom before our food gets here.” Ben spoke, standing up from his chair._

_“Wait, I'll come with you.” Hikaru added, standing up and following Ben to the washrooms. When they came back to their table, their waitress had returned as well, bringing, along with their food and a dessert menu for the two of them. The menu came with a note that said their dessert was on the house. And just when they thought that there were no more surprises, the sound of a violin filled the room._

_“Oh my god,” Hikaru laughed breathily as the violinist approached their table. He stood a respectable distance away, as the two men ate their dinners._

_“I’m going to have a talking to Bones when I get back to my dorm.” Ben joked, eating another forkful of his meal._

_“Go easy on him,” Hikaru hummed, “I’ll talk to Jim tomorrow before class.”_

_The two of them enjoyed the rest of their dinner and, as much as they didn’t want to admit it, Jim had done an amazing job with the setup, though it was maybe a little bit over the top. Thankfully there were no more surprises. It seemed like the violinist had been the last of it._

_After they finished, they walked back to campus, side by side._

_“I still can’t believe they set us up…” Hikaru said, looking up at the stars as they walked._

_“More importantly, I can’t believe it worked.” Ben chuckled, watching Hikaru._

_“Wait...” Hikaru hummed, thinking for a moment. “Did Jim really have a reaction, or was that just them setting us up again?”_

_“What do you mean?” Ben asked._

_“At the conservatory. You know, when they left early because of Jim’s reaction.”_

_“Probably, yeah,” He chuckled softly._

_They walked for a while in a comfortable silence, occasionally stealing glances at one another. Hikaru stepped over, bumping his shoulder into Ben’s with a grin. Ben smiled back before bumping him back and hesitantly taking his hand before they were too far apart. Hikaru squeezed his hand, giving him a reassuring smile._

_“So, why did you join Starfleet?”_

_Ben felt his heart stop in his chest, his legs began to shake and he couldn’t breathe. That was one of the few questions he never wanted to hear, let alone answer. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t tell Hikaru the truth. It would just scare him away._

_“I just needed a change… something new.” He lied, hoping Hikaru would buy it, “Why did you join?”_

_“It’s been my dream since I was five. To fly starships, to become the best pilot in Starfleet. To fly the Federation’s best flagship and eventually, become the captain of my own.” Hikaru beamed, staring up at the night sky. “One day, Ben,” He spoke softly, pointing at the stars with his unoccupied hand, “We’re going to be out there. Out among the stars.”_

_“Wow,” Ben smiled, giving Hikaru’s hand a soft squeeze, “You’ve really given this a lot of thought.”_

“Well, I had these holos that would project galaxies in my room. My mother got them for me to help me sleep and watching them move made me feel instantly relaxed and calm. And like I said, it’s always been my dream. There’s nothing I’ve wanted more than to be amongst the stars.” Hikaru answered, grinning from ear to ear.

_Their conversation slowed as they approached the single’s dorms. Hikaru blushed as Ben held the door open for him. Once they were inside, the two of them walked side by side, hand in hand, until they got to Hikaru’s door._

_“I had a really good time tonight,” Hikaru hummed._

_“Me too,” Ben sighed, happily._

_“So, next Saturday, right?” Hikaru asked, after he unlocked his door._

_“Yes,” Ben spoke, leaning forward to kiss Hikaru on the cheek. “Well, goodnight,” He smiled, “I’ll see you Saturday.”_

“I’ll see you then.” Hikaru entered his room, his door closing behind him with a soft, swoosh. He fell back against his door after it shut and let out a long, content sigh. His face lit up with a bright smile as he slid down his door and blushed into his hands. He stayed there, extremely giddy, for several minutes before getting up and finally getting ready for bed.

_Ben couldn’t hide the excited smile he had on his face. To any passerby, they might think that he’d just gotten lucky. Ben was breathless for the second time that night, only this time, he revelled in the feeling, his excitement and happiness taking precedent over any other feeling. His walk back to his dorm seemed shorter than usual, but as he approached his door, he tried to calm himself down before entering. He had many questions weighing on his mind, and he planned on getting all the answers tonight._

_He keyed in his room code and stepped inside._

 

* * *

 

“God dammit Jim,” Bones cursed loudly. “I thought he was going to just set you up on a dinner date. I didn’t know he’d do all that crazy shit.”

“Yeah, well, he did.”

“Well, he told me...”

 

_—_ _Earlier that day_ _—_

 

_“So, I’ve thought of stepping it up a little.” Jim cackled, rubbing his hands together and coming to sit next to Bones._

_“Oh?” He mumbled, not looking up from the PADD he was reading._

_“So, we tell them that we’re going to have a group dinner at The Narrow Orchid. But we’re not going to be there!” Jim stopped, his face full of enthusiasm._

_Bones just looked at him, one eyebrow raised. “We’re not?”_

_“No, we’re not! We are going to book a reservation on Saturday, for two, and when they ask us where we are, we say ‘We’re running late. The reservation is under Ben’s name, start without us’.” Jim explained, loudly, drawing a lot of attention from the people around them._

_“And when we don’t show up?” Bones questioned, the skepticism plain in his voice._

_“Once they’ve been seated, they’ll message us when we don’t show up. We will tell them that we’re not coming and to have fun!” Jim finished, completely confident that his plan would work._

_“And if they don’t message us?”_

_“They will.” Jim said, leaving the room to make the reservation. Bones went back to his book, not thinking twice about Jim’s plan._

 

* * *

 

“So, how’d it go?” Bones pried, nudging Ben’s side with his elbow, after each of them had explained their side of the story. Ben sighed heavily, resting his face in his hands. He mumbled unintelligible something into hands. “What was that?”

He sighed again, removing his hands from his face and admitting,“We have a date Saturday night.”

“I told you it would work, Bones!” A muffled voice shouted from the bathroom. The door opened to a half naked Jim, a towel wrapped very loosely around his waist and a smug grin on his face.

Ben groaned, “What are you doing in our shower?”

Jim just shrugged, “I’ve got a date and Pavel’s using our shower.”

“You let him use out shower?” Ben moaned, looking at Bones with a pained expression.

“We figured you wouldn’t be coming back tonight.” Bones answered simply, shrugging his shoulder before turning back to his assignment.

“Could you please tie your towel a little tighter?” Ben sighed, shielding his eyes with his hand. Jim turned around a re-tied his towel before sitting down in Ben’s desk chair.

“No!” Ben stated, firmly, “Get your wet ass out of my chair!”

Jim held his hands up in surrender. “Well, I guess I’ll be going now. You’re not the only one who has a hot date.” He smirked, leaving the room, the towel still tied around his waist.

“Remind me again why we’re friends with him.” Ben mumbled, collapsing onto his bed and rubbing at his temples.

“I ask myself that everyday.” Bones put his assignment away and turned towards Ben. “In all seriousness though, he really does mean well. And, even if it pains me to admit it, his plan did work. Regardless of how extravagant it might have been.”

“I know and I appreciate it, I really do.” Ben spoke, moving his arms and resting his head on his hands. “We both do. It was just a little too much. We haven’t even been on an official first date yet and we’ve already been serenaded to.”

“Just too much, too soon.”

“Exactly,” Ben confirmed, his eyes shutting closed.

“So, how do you feel about your next, er… first date with Hikaru?” Bones asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

“Honestly, I’m terrified. I really like Hikaru, we get along really well and I love being around him. But I’m so scared I’m going to ruin it somehow.”

“But?”

Ben blushed slightly and smiled, “But, I do want to see where this goes. I think Hikaru and I could really have something together and I want to see where our relationship will take us. I feel so relaxed when I’m with him and exhilarated whenever I think about him.”

“I know the feeling,” Bones added. “Well, we should get to bed, it’s getting late.”

“Yeah, probably,” Ben laughed, getting up and changing into his pajamas.

“Does your boyfriend know that you wear plant pajama pants?” Bones teased, before changing into his own pajamas.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Ben blushed again. “Just a really good friend...”

“That you make out with?”

“That would really appreciate my pajama pants,” Ben grinned, crawling into his bed and pulling the blankets over himself.

Bones just smiled, turning off the lights and getting into his bed.


	8. Chapter 8

For their second, but first official date, Ben took Hikaru to his lab, and afterwards, Hikaru showed him his. Hikaru passed by Ben’s Spring Coyote as he entered Ben’s lab, once again marvelling at the 8 foot tall plant.

“I still can’t believe that’s  _ your  _ plant.” Hikaru said, following Ben into the room, shaking his head. 

“You can’t?”

“Well I spent 3 months admiring that thing before finding out that it is your plant.”

“Ah, so you’re interested in my plants, are you?” Ben smirked. “And you know you always could have looked at the sign outside of my lab to see who owned it.”

“But I wouldn’t have recognized the name anyway.” He shrugged, walking over to one of the plants on the table closest to them.

“So what kind of plants are in your lab? Which kinds are your favourite?” Ben asked, coming over to stand beside him.

“All kinds of plants, but the ferns are my favourite. I’ve got this one beautiful, red fern from Vulcan. It has some really interesting water retainment properties. It’s kind of similar to cacti on Earth, but it’s capabilities greatly surpass ours.”

“When and where did you get it?” Ben spoke, curious.

“My parents went on a diplomatic mission to Vulcan and they got given one as a welcoming gift. Since they knew how much I love plants, and ferns in particular, they gave it to me.”

“I have some ferns over here, if you want to see them?” Ben suggested, pointing towards one area of the room.

Hikaru nodded. “Always.” They walked over to the section, and Ben began to talk about his plants, which were his favourites out of his ferns. This included his Spring Eafforsler, which was found off the western coast of Risa, and his Boston Fern; a light green fern with dark leaves, that was in a hanging basket above the others. 

“I got the Eafforsler from a small greenhouse in San Diego and the Boston Fern I grew myself from some spores I bought in a marketplace here in San Francisco.” Ben explained, lightly rubbing one of the fronds with his thumb.

“Oh, I love Boston ferns!” Hikaru gasped excitedly, examining the Boston fern. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, it is,” Ben sighed happily.

Ben watched as Hikaru treated the plant with utmost care. He gently brushed off the small specks of dirt from the plant’s fronds and picked up a small spray bottle, spraying the plant lightly with water. That gave Ben an idea. 

“Hey, do you want to keep it?” Ben asked, completely serious.

Hikaru thought he was kidding until he saw the look on Ben’s face. “No. No, Ben I couldn’t do that.” Hikaru protested, “This is your plant, I can’t take it away from you.”

“You clearly like it, why not?” 

Hikaru shook his head, “No, I’m sorry, I just can’t take your plant.”

“Um… what if we switched?” Ben suggested.

“What do you mean?”

“Switch plants, like you can take my Boston fern and I’ll take one of yours.” Ben explained, “If you’re okay with that, that is.” 

“Really? Wow, well I don’t see why not.” Hikaru smiled, “Sure, let’s swap plants.”

Ben beamed as he unhooked the plant and handed it to Hikaru. He watched as his small smile lit up the room. Ben felt his heart start beating a little faster and let himself be dragged away by Hikaru, out of his lab and into Hikaru’s.

“Has your lab really been next to mine all this time and we never bumped into each other earlier?” Ben laughed softly as Hikaru took down one of his hanging baskets and replaced it with Ben’s Boston fern.

“I guess not,” Hikaru joked, half serious, “Because I definitely would have noticed you if we did.”

“Oh really?” Ben smirked, leaning against what he thought was a table, behind him. Unfortunately for Ben, the ‘table’ was actually a cart; it gave way under Ben’s weight, sending him to the ground.

“Oh my god, Ben!” Hikaru let out, running to the man’s side, “Are you okay?” He asked, sounding very concerned as he kneeled next to him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Ben moaned, struggling to sit up. “Just bruised my ass.” Hikaru helped him into a sitting position, where Ben stretched out his back. Upon looking to his left, his eyes landed on an Marimo Moss Ball, on a low shelf, underneath one of Hikaru’s lab tables. “Oh my,” He breathed, reaching out to it, “Is that a Marimo Moss Ball?” The plant itself wasn’t actually moss, but a small ball of algae instead, its name coming from its close resemblance to moss. It’s need to be kept away from light gave it its home on the shelf, and though it was low maintainence, Hikaru still checked on it weekly to make sure it was doing alright.

“Yeah, I got it from a trip I took to Japan.” He answered, picking up the small glass terrarium and handing it to Ben with care.

“Wow, I’ve always wanted one of these.” Ben smiled softly, reaching his hand into the water and brushing the surface of the plant with the tips of his fingers. “You’ve taken really good care of it,” Ben hummed, removing his hand and admiring the plant through the glass.

“Do you want to take it?” Hikaru asked, “You know, for the switch?”

Ben beamed, turning to Hikaru, “I’d love to.” He set the plant down carefully before standing up and bending over to retrieve the plant. Hikaru followed him as Ben walked back to his lab, carrying the plant. 

“You know, I just got some Mountain Lemon seeds in the other day, do you want to help me plant them?

“Yes, of course! Are those from the new species discovered on Leunus?” Ben asked, intrigued. 

He watched as Ben set down the plant on a nearby table. “Yeah! I had to bribe the professor for them, but it’ll be worth it to see it grow. The soil should just be over there.” He said, pointing to the right side of the lab. “Do you want to grab some while I get the seeds and the pots?”

“Sure,” Ben spoke, retrieving the soil and bringing it back to Hikaru. The two of them kneeled on the ground as they filled the small pots with soil. “You’ll have to replant these once they get bigger, because they won’t fit in the pots for very long.”

“Yeah, that’s what Professor G'orsez said when he gave them to me. I figured these would be fine for now. When they get bigger, we can move them.” He shrugged, giving Ben a little smile.

“We?” Ben questioned, motioning between them.

“Well yeah, if you’re helping to plant them, then you should be around to when they need to be repotted. Besides, it’ll be more fun to do it together.” 

“Yeah, it will be,” Ben murmured, as he and Hikaru placed the seeds into the pots and sprinkled them with soil. “How long do you think it will be until they break through to the surface?” Ben asked curiously.

Hikaru shrugged, “I don’t know. Going by the size of these pots and the average rate of plant growth in these conditions… maybe three weeks? And it probably will be another 2 months until they need to be moved into some bigger pots.”

“Okay, so I’ll see you in three months?” Ben joked, pretending to get up from his spot on the ground.

“Well… I hope to see you sooner than that.” He said, grabbing the front of Ben’s shirt and pulling him back down. “And we’re not finished yet.” Hikaru spoke, a small smile on his face.

“Okay, okay,” Ben spoke, holding his hands up in mock surrender, “I think these babies just need a little bit of water and then we should be done.”

Hikaru reached beside him and grabbed the watering can, pouring the right amount on the pot in front of him before passing it to Ben. Once Ben had watered his, they stood up, putting their plants on a nearby table and putting away the bag of soil. 

“Well, I think we’re done here,” Ben sighed, rubbing the dirt that was on his hands, onto his pants. 

“You know, you could actually wash your hands, or rub your hands on a rag or something.” Hikaru teased, rubbing his own hands on a clean rag that he pulled out from his desk.

“Or I could just do this...” Ben muttered under his breath, sticking his hands into an empty pot of wet soil. He quickly stood up, grabbed either side of Hikaru’s face, and kissed him on the lips. Hikaru melted into the kiss, his body feeling like jello as he managed to grab Ben’s waist and pull him closer. Hikaru wasn’t quite sure how one of his hands managed to get tangled up in Ben’s hair, but neither of them really seemed to mind. When the two broke apart and Ben removed his hands from Hikaru’s face, there were two large, muddy handprints on both of Hikaru’s cheeks.

“And how do you expect me to walk back to my room like this?” Hikaru asked.

“Like this,” Ben snickered, grabbing Hikaru’s hands, dunking them into the wet soil and slapping them against his own cheeks. The two of them now had matching, muddy faces and had burst out laughing.

“We look ridiculous,” Hikaru wheezed, clutching his stomach as he continued laughing.

“Oh, we’re a mess, aren’t we?” Ben panted, placing a gentle hand on Hikaru’s back. “Are you okay?” He asked, helping Hikaru up and wrapping his arm around his back.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” He smiled, taking a few deep breaths to stop himself from laughing uncontrollably again. 

“Maybe we should get out of here,” Ben suggested, “Before we make more of a mess.”

“Yeah that’s probably a good idea.”

The two of them had barely made it out of Hikaru’s lab before Hikaru spoke up, “Oh, Ben! You forgot something.”

“I did?” He asked, letting go of Hikaru and turning his head towards the lab. “What did I forget?”

“This,” Hikaru chuckled, grabbing Ben’s shirt and pulling him down for another kiss. Ben was completely caught off guard, but eventually managed to kiss the smaller man back and wrap his arms around Hikaru’s waist. Hikaru, in turn, slung one of his arms around Ben’s neck and kept his other hand, clutched in Ben’s dress shirt. When they broke apart, again, they did a once over of each other. 

“Wow, we’ve really made a mess, haven’t we?” Hikaru giggled, looking at their clothes, which were thoroughly covered in mud. Ben’s dress shirt was coated in Hikaru’s muddy hand prints, as was Hikaru’s t-shirt and his windbreaker.

“Yeah, we did.” Ben laughed, his hand finding Hikaru’s. Hikaru gave Ben’s hand a squeeze before leading him out of the lab. If they got any strange looks from the other people in the lab, they didn’t care.

“So, where are we going?” Ben asked, looking down at Hikaru.

“I don’t know, I was following you.” He replied, looking back at Ben, confused.  

“Well, if we head back to my room,” Ben begun, “I can get you something to change into so you don’t have to walk across the entire campus wearing a mud-stained shirt.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Hikaru nodded. The two of them turning in the direction of Ben’s dorm. They walked for some time, in comfortable silence, still hand-in-hand. The only sounds around them were the soft wisp of the evening wind and the sounds of their shoes hitting the pavement. 

“Do you want to go over to my place afterwards? Then we don’t have to worry about bothering Leonard.”

“Sure, that’s sounds great,” Ben smiled, watching a comet out of the corner of his eye fly by in the night sky. He couldn’t help but think to himself,  _ “Make a wish.”  _ Before he shrugged off the thought,  _ “No need… it already came true.” _

Soon the two of them arrived at Ben’s dorm. They went in and changed, Hikaru borrowing a extra large, dark blue collared shirt from Ben. It was a little big on him, but Ben thought it was cute. Ben got a soft lavender shirt for himself. They cleaned themselves off and were just about to leave when Bones walked in. 

“Oh, sorry Leonard,” Ben chuckled, “We were just leaving.”

“Where are you two headed?” He asked, curious, “It’s almost 20:00.”

“We’re going back to Hikaru’s for dinner.” 

“Right.  _ ‘Dinner.’ _ ” He smirked, drawing the word out. “You kids have fun.” He said, walking past them to his desk. Ben smiled and shook his head before taking Hikaru’s hand and walking out the door. They enjoyed the short walk to Hikaru’s dorm in relative silence, occasionally making a comment about whatever they were thinking about. 

“-so that’s why you only wear dress shirts?” Hikaru asked, laughing quietly, “Huh, that’s really cool.”

“Leonard thinks it’s weird that I won’t wear anything else.” Ben mumbled with a shrug.

When they arrived at Hikaru’s door, Ben waited patiently as Hikaru opened the door and pulled him inside. The two of them were giggling like children who had stolen the cookies from the cookie jar.

Ben moved to sit on the edge of Hikaru’s bed, while Hikaru entered a command into the replicator. “Okay, I hope you’re hungry,” He smiled, pulling out two bowls of Bibimbap out of the replicator. As he turned to face Ben, he was surprised to see Ben, fast asleep on his bed. Hikaru couldn’t help but smile and he knew he didn’t have the heart to wake him. He set the bowls down on his desk and changed into some more comfortable pants before joining Ben in his bed.

Yawning, he pulled a blanket over the two of them and told the computer to turn off the lights. 

As Hikaru closed his eyes, he knew that this would be the first of many nights that he would spend, side by side, with Ben.


End file.
